Laura Meredith

How did you become interested in Psychology?

I started by taking psychology classes in high school, and I just really found them interesting. I've always been interested in why we become the people we are and why we do the things we do. And then when I got to NIU as an education major, I decided to minor in psychology. I thought understanding people would make me a better teacher. I ended up double majoring then in English and psychology, because by the time I finished my classes for my minor, I didn't want to stop taking psychology classes, because they were so interesting. 

Why should someone consider Psychology?

I'm horribly biased, but I think psychology is one of the most interesting subjects. Who doesn't want to know more about who we are, and why we are the way we are, and why we act the way we act? So it's such an inherently interesting subject, being able to apply so much of it to ourselves. Psychology is an area of study that's growing and changing and that we can use to make ourselves better and make the world around us better.

How would you describe your teaching style and what can students expect in class with you?

I like to think that I create a warm, comfortable classroom. There is a lot of participation in my classes. I like to do demonstrations instead of just telling students about a psychological term. We'll use some kind of mini demonstration or experiment. I love review games so we play a lot of games in my classroom too. I like to make it as engaging and as interesting as I can. Psychology is such an interesting subject to begin with so I'm lucky to have that subject material to get to work with.

What should students know about studying Psychology at Waubonsee?

We have Psi Beta Honor Society and the Psychology Club, which we combine together to do different activities. The last couple semesters, Dr. Lisa Fozio-Thielk has run Narcan trainings. We've trained 200 to 300 students on how to administer Narcan in the case of an opioid overdose. Any student who is interested in psychology can join. It's student-run, so club members decide if they want to do fundraisers, and decide what kind of activities they do.

What do you like to do outside of work?

Fighting the stigma surrounding mental health is really important to me. I also love to read, so I read a ton of books each year. I read a lot of fiction, but also a lot of nonfiction related to psychology. So my students make fun of me because I'm always saying, "I just read this book," but there's a lot of connections that we can make that way.